Police inspector Maja Silver returns to her hometown in the Swedish Bible Belt as a terrible discovery paralyzes the small community.

Lena Svensson has been offered a new and exiting job in Stockholm that she can't say no to. But her husband, Gustav, has no plan of what so ever to move from his quiet little town of Vivalla, and especially his job as a very proud postman. After Lena started to commute between Stockholm and Vivalla, he decides to sell the house and give Stockholm a chance. He starts of with a job as a postman in one of Stockholm's worst districts, but after a mistake on a conference, Gustav seems to do quite a success at his new job, while Lena is struggling with annoying colleagues and a demanding boss.

14-year old Erik gets sent to live with his older brother, Henry, during the summer as his mother is dying in cancer. Henry starts dating Ewa, who is married to Berra. A few days after Ewa shows up battered and bruised from an altercation with Berra, he is found dead on a nearby parking lot.